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Hash of Cold Mutton or Beef

A hash made from finely chopped cold mutton or beef, simmered with herbs, onions, and spices, thickened with flour and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,395 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Hash of Cold Mutton or Beef

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Chop the bones very finely.

  2. Place them in a stewing pan.

  3. Add salt, pepper, and spices.

  4. Cover with boiling water.

  5. Simmer gently for two hours.

Make the gravy

  1. Slice and fry the onion until pale brown.

  2. Mix the fried onion with the gravy from the bones.

  3. Boil briefly.

  4. Strain.

  5. Return to the saucepan.

  6. Thicken with flour rubbed in butter or plain browned flour, a pinch of brown sugar, and some tomato sauce.

  7. Let it boil well.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the cut-up meat.

  2. Keep it from boiling to prevent it from becoming hard.

  3. Serve with toast or fried sippets.

  4. Add a little cayenne pepper if desired.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + carrottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,021 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Pepper + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cold joint meat
Provides the main meat flavour and bulk of the hash once cut up and added.
Flour
Thickens the gravy as it cooks, giving the hash a smooth, body-filled texture.
Butter
Rubbed into the flour to help it blend into the gravy without lumps and adds richness.
Onion
Fried until pale brown, adding sweetness and savoury depth to the gravy.
Tomato sauce (in the method)
Adds acidity and colour to the gravy, balancing the rich meat flavour.

The step that matters

Keep it from boiling after the meat is added. Gentle heat keeps the meat tender; boiling toughens muscle proteins and makes the meat hard and dry.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, allspice, carrot, butter, flour):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, allspice, carrot, butter, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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